Monteverdi High Speed 375 L

It was also a chance to know the new concert hall for the OSNCH, after decades using a small teather that wasn't even designed for music.

The concert was great, but there was a moment that will remain particularly etched in my mind for a long time:

By the end of the concert, a women from the choir stood up to sing. It called my attention that she, as she passed by, offered her hand to another female singer and helped her to her feet. Then, hand in hand, they walked toward the front of the stage. Curious.

As they sang, they remained hand in hand, or gently caressing each other's arms, and exchanging loving glances.

It was an evidently lesbian performance to my eyes, and it was beautiful.

The piece they sang was "Pur ti miro", from the opera L'Incoronatione di Poppea, which is a perfectly heterosexual opera about Poppea and Nero. In fact, "Pur ti miro" is sung by the characters of Poppea and Nero (final song of the opera).

I adore you, I embrace you, I desire you, I enchain you, no more grieving, no more sorrow, O my dearest, O my beloved. I am yours, O my love, tell me so, you are mine, mine alone, O my love. Feel my heart, see my love, see.

The interesting point of this work is that the character of Nero was composed for a countertenor (the highest pitched male voice), so —technically— a contralto or a mezzo could perfectly do that job, too.

And here is the thing that surprised me: the choir director could have chosen a high pitch male singer for this piece, but he chose a woman. Why? I don't know, but I'm eternally thankful for that, because it was magical. And I'm also thankful to the performers, because they could have just sung in front of the audience without the dramatic performance, but they decided to go a little bit further, and it worked like a charm.

Did I shed a tear or two? Of course I did.

If you want to feel as moved as I was with this performance, I found another female-female performance on YouTube, and it is even more magical that the one I saw yesterday, because this time they are actually performing the opera: